It has been quite a while since I last posted.  The last day of first grade for Abby to be exact.  I don't have a writers head, I guess.  I want to write and I have so many things I want to write about.  Here are a few; My New Kitchen Makeover, Abby's Progress in Second Grade Homeschool, My work as  a Painter?, My Relationships With My Kids, All The Things Life Is Teaching Me, Etc., Etc., Etc. 
First of all, I am finally renovating my old ratty kitchen with the crumbling tile countertop, and the deteriorating pressed wood cabinets, and the nasty, black, grouted tile floor!   I am sooo happy!  I am designing the whole thing, too.  We are moving our refrigerator and dishwasher because you can't open the door to the refrigerator all the way where it is because of the wall in the way, and we are moving the dishwasher because it is on the wrong side of the sink.  I figured out a long time ago that when I, a right hander, try to put dishes into the dishwasher on the right hand side of the sink, it is like trying to play twister with the dishes.  I am through with all that!  We are moving it to the left side of the sink so that when I rinse my dishes before putting them into the dishwasher, I can just set them right into the dishwasher or set them on the counter right above the dishwasher and then load the dishwasher in proper ergonomic comfort.  I am also putting in  a beautiful shiny, groutless tile kitchen floor, which is a blessing because every time I walk on certain parts of the old tile floor it slices up my foot because the person who layed the old floor cut them without filing them and then put them right in the path of my feet.  The new floor will not have any cut tiles and they will be rectified and butted up against each other and they will be 20x20, so the grout line will be nearly imperseptable  Well, I am going to be skipping around in my kitchen (in a few months) like goldilocks in the three bears' kitchen...sort of.  I don't want to bore you to death right off the bat, so I will leave you suspended there for a while until I make it back here to update you on the progress of my new kitchen. So far, I have removed about one quarter of the popcorn, which I hate and the pantry portion of my cabinets will be installed on the 3 of October. 

Up there at the top of my busy, stay at home mom list of things on my mind that keep me up at night is the issue of homeschooling Abby.  I think we are getting somewhere this year.  We are only a couple of days behind and Abby is doing pretty well.  We are remediating with math and pareing down science and social studies.  Review is a large part of our day because we decided to stop school at a certain point, during summer and just clear our heads.  We spend a lot of our time in the beginning of each year reteaching what has already been taught because of this, which is ok, because we just can't keep it going all the way through summer.  I think she will be fine.  I can't push her beyond a point where I think she may fall off of a cliff or something. (I know, that is a funny metaphor, but like I said, I don't have a writer's head.  I do the best I can.)  The great thing is that Abby really wants to homeschool.  She is desperately wanting to stay home and not venture into the chaos which is public school.  She had a taste of it and that was enough for her.  That makes me happy because at least I am not fighting with her, trying to convince her of the importance of homeschooling, she already knows it.  She is a happy and smart child with an amazing mind.  She is beautiful and sweet and every time I see her grow in some way I feel like I am doing the right thing.  I am instilling values, and preserving her inosence for as long as I can.  I know she will want to expand her scope, but I want to be able to guide her gently through any major milestones.  I feel I can accomplish this more successfully if I am present in her life.  It's that important to me.  Of course, I can't predict the future, and I will not try to control it.  I am just keeping a tighter handle on it, for now.

I am working on transitions, I started a sort of business painting furniture.  I have always loved doing this. I almost feel compelled to.  I have this one customer, she is my only customer, but she has given me enough business to keep me busy for the last 4 or 5 months.  So far I have painted almost a dozen chairs, tables, and other furniture, all in my garage.  Ny loving and supportive husband bought me an air compressor and paint gun for my birthday.  I have fashioned a makeshift paint booth in my garage and I am just painting away.  I would really like to have a studio and an assistant, but that is a dream for the future.  for now I will try to get some more customers and keep on painting.  I will post some of my work on this blog.